Under Cover Up
by SuperWhoLockMerlinArrowBuffy
Summary: Bryce Larkin's daughter,Brenna, takes a stand against what is supposedly correct.She follows the agreement of her father's will and is now living with Chuck. But she's not what anyone would expect from a teenage girl. Warnings for Chapter 7
1. Prologue

Prologue

When most people find out that their father is dead, they can grieve. When I find this out I'm sworn into secrecy, to act like nothing happened. When I find this out I have to question whether or not it is true, considering he has faked his death several times before. When I find this out it is CIA and NSA information and that if I tell anyone it will be known as betraying my country. When I find this out I run away from the prison I am supposed to call home. When I find this out I go to the place it was desired for me to go in my father's will. When I find this out I'm officially done with the CIA and the NSA. When I find this out I decide that it's my turn to have a life. When I find this out I break out from my shell. When I find this out all of hell breaks loose. When I find this out I decide that I will not take any prisoners. When I find this out I break.


	2. Alias

Chapter 1- Alias

I pack most of my things, but I abandon the things that could track me. That means my cell phone, and most likely my iPod. My father taught me how to avoid the surveillance cameras, so I will be able to sneak out with some clothes and CDs that I know aren't bugged. I pull up my hood on my hoodie and put on some old sunglasses to make me less recognizable. I also take the money that my dad had stashed for me in case of emergency, and I'm pretty sure that this qualifies. I sneak off "base" and wait for the bus, the best way to appear that you're not trying to get away from some place as fast as possible is to take your time getting to a location. Sure if I wanted to I could hijack a CIA plane and arrive in Burbank within minutes but that would clearly give me away.

The bus arrives about fifteen minutes after I got to the stop. I slip in the money into the slot and take a seat in the back of the bus. I get off at a stop remotely near Burbank and I start to walk. I see costume shop that is having a clearance sale because no one is buying costumes during January. I walk into the shop and see that it is empty aside from the guy working behind the cash register. I go up to him. "You wouldn't happen to have a blond wig would you?"

The guy looks at me oddly. I have jet black hair and I probably wouldn't look good as a blonde. I make up a lie for why I need it, "My sister thinks that I would look good with blond hair so I want to test it with a wig."

He doesn't say anything but he returns with a blonde wig and a bald cap. I thank him as I grab some new big sunglasses, and I give the man his money as I leave the costume store and head into the nearest clothing store. I buy some new clothes that I normally wouldn't wear, like really preppy clothes. I make the purchases and change in the nearest public bathroom.

I walk down to the library. I go onto the computer and go onto the yellow pages website. I look for the last name Bartowski in Burbank. There is one name listed for an Eleanor and I remember my dad telling me that his friend Chuck lived with his sister Ellie. I jot down the address and print up directions from map quest and I find a number for a taxi service. I find a pay phone and call the taxi service and have them take me to the address that I found.

The drive isn't too long; once we get there I give the man his money as I get out of the cab. I walk up to the door and knock. A short man with a goatee answers the door. "Can I help you?"

"Um is Chuck Bartowski there?" I ask slowly.

He nods as he yells over his shoulder, "Chuck! Buddy! There's some blond teenager here for you!"

Then it hits me, I have no idea how I'm supposed to break this to him. I can't just say 'hi I'm your dead friend's daughter.' Chuck arrives at the door in a Buy-More uniform and looks at me quizzically.

"Can I help you?"

I make up a lie, "You helped me with my laptop at the Buy-More, and I had a few quick questions for you."

"How did you get my address?" He asks suspiciously.

"Uh," I think fast, "your co-workers told me to come here."

He sighs, "Lester and Jeff no doubt."

"Yeah," I pretend as if their names ring any bells, "I think that's what they said their names were."

He cocks his head to the right for a second, "Well, why don't you come in so I can take a look at it."

I don't have to take one look at his apartment to know that it is covered with surveillance cameras. "No!" I snap, "I can't go in your house! I don't even know you! For all I know you could be some pedophile! Why don't we go somewhere public?"

"Okay." He looks at me as if I'm crazy. We walk to some park where I can tell that there is no surveillance. As we sit down on a bench, I look around to make sure that no one is watching us. I slowly pull off the wig and bald cap. He looks at me as if I have ten heads.

I speak in a hushed whisper, "Listen to me very carefully, I am not supposed to be here. If anyone asks you, including your handlers, this conversation never happened-"

Chuck whispers panic filled, "What are you some sort of teen ring agent?"

I roll my eyes, "Not even close."

"Fulcrum?" He asks still panicking

"No!" I shake my head, still whispering, "I'm Brenna Larkin, Bryce Larkin's daughter."

"What!" He yells and stands up, "Bryce had a daughter!"

I pull him back down on the bench, "Shut Up! I'm not supposed to be here! I ran away from the CIA safe base where I was supposed to be!" I sigh as I put the bald cap and wig back on.

"Well what does that have to do with me?" Chuck asks, "I mean I'm working with the CIA, for crying out loud!"

"SHUSH!" I scold him for speaking too loudly, "It was in my father's will that he wished for me to live with you."

"Well don't you have a mother?" Chuck asks me.

I shrug, "I never met her. She dumped me off with my dad when I was a baby. Chuck I need to stay with you but you cannot tell Agent Walker, Agent Casey, Agent Shaw or the general who I am."

He sighs, "I can't make any promises alright."

"Fine, I can live with that."

We start to walk to his apartment when I see someone following us. I whisper, "is that a friend of yours?"

Chuck turns around, "No, quick run to the house and lock the door."

I roll me eyes, "Yeah right." I turn around and pull one of my guns out of my pocket. "What the hell do you want."

"YOU HAVE A GUN?!" Chuck screams.

I nod, "My dad was Bryce Larkin what did you expect?"

"Do you even have a license to carry that?" Chuck asks as he takes the gun from me and apologizes to the man who was apparently just taking a walk, he tells him something about me being from a bad neighborhood and that it won't happen again. He turns to me, "Are you sure that you're not Casey's daughter?"

I roll my eyes as we get to the Bartowski residence.


	3. Comrades

Chapter 2- Comrades

We arrive at Chuck's place, his bearded friend is there, and Chuck whispers something in his ear. I assume that the bearded guy knows a little more than he should, but I don't say anything. Chuck turns to me, "Sit down, make yourself comfortable, and try not to kill anyone."

I sit down as Chuck pulls his friend into the other room. I look around the place and immediately realize why my father wanted me to stay here. This place was . . . normal. It was a real world setting, something I'd never experienced before. I liked it.

After a few minutes Chuck and his friend come in, "Brenna this is Morgan," he motions to his friend, "Morgan-Brenna."

I nod to him; he seemed harmless so I had nothing to worry about. He nods back nervously, "Wow, I didn't know Bryce Larkin 'Super Spy' had a kid!"

I glare at Chuck, "That's because I'm classified information, and Chuck wasn't supposed to tell anyone!"

"Tell anyone what?" A female voice asks from the doorway. There I see some fake blonde looking at us quizzically. She may not know who I am, but I have a pretty good idea who she is.

"Uh," Chuck says nervously.

I take over doing what I do best: Lie, "My computer has a virus and Chuck was doing me a favor so my parents don't find out."

"Nice try," I hear a male voice from behind the fake blonde, he has dark hair and he's very muscular, he has CIA written all over him. I know that this has to be the infamous Agent Shaw. "Hello Miss Larkin, we've been looking everywhere for you."

"Agent Shaw," I greet falsely pleasant, "We meet at last. I don't believe my father could've hyped you up anymore than humanly possible."

He gave me a false smirk, "You're coming with me, and don't even think about pulling any of those guns out. I know for a fact you have at least four on you."

"Oh," Chuck says giving Shaw the gun he confiscated from me earlier that same day, "I think maybe you should keep that."

I roll my eyes as Agent Shaw leads me out the door. He opens a car door and I grudgingly enter. I know the procedure they put a potato sack on my head so I won't know the way to the new base but I remember the turns and amount of time between them in case of emergencies. The car stops abruptly. The door I'm closest to opens and they pull the sack off of my head. They usher me into the building. It's another safe base, I know that for sure, but it's different from all the others I'd been to. This one is nicer, it's bigger. Agent Shaw turns to me, "There are two others here," he opens a door and holds it for me, "I'll let you get acquainted."

I walk into the room. There are two boys in the room. They both have dark hair. One has dark eyes, and the other a radiant blue. The one with the blue eyes has hair slightly lighter than the one with the dark. They look at me oddly.

"Wow," says the one with the darker features, "You look beautiful, but you're the only girl around my age I've ever met, so I don't know if that means anything."

I shake my head and answer quietly, "Some pick up line."

He blushes, "I'm Dustin, and this is Jimmy." He points to the boy with the blue eyes who is studying me like a piece of artwork, not sure what to decipher.

"Brenna," I answer, "Brenna Larkin."

"No way," the boy apparently named Jimmy says, "I never knew Agent Bryce Larkin had a kid!"

Dustin speaks up again, "Yeah, Bryce is so top secret no one is even allowed to know his middle name!"

I was about to speak up, and then I realized, I didn't know my father's middle name. "Yeah, I don't even know it."

Dustin smirks, "Well, I've never had the honor of meeting your dad but you just met mine. Agent Daniel Shaw."

"Wow," I say, there's no denying the resemblance; Dustin was handsome, quite like his father, "Are you Eve's son?"

Dustin shook his head, "Nah, I liked Eve though she's a lot nicer than Sarah."

I laughed, "She's the fake blonde right?"

He nodded, "Yup."

Jimmy snickered, "She needs to watch her roots, they're screaming for bleach."

I snicker, "Who's your parent?"

Jimmy sighed, "Probably the most unemotional person on this planet. Colonel John Casey. Aren't I lucky?"

I smirk, but Dustin makes a face, "Did my dad say he was coming in or not?"

I shake my head; I know what it was like. If you have or had a parent who was some sort of agent then the time you spent with that parent was a joke. Sometimes you would only see that parent one time out of the year. It was tough being the child of an agent. I knew this from experience.

Dustin looks down. Jimmy tries to cheer him up, "Don't worry Dust, your dad comes along more often than mine, I bet he'll be around for the parent weekend this month."

"You guys have a monthly parent weekend?" I ask. I can't help but feel jealous, after my rant, one can tell that I was lucky to see my dad once a year never mind once a month.

"Yeah," Jimmy says bitterly, "They're allowed to come once a month, but my dad rarely shows, and it's only because our parents are stationed in the area. Does that mean Bryce is in town?"

"No," I hold back the tears, "He's dead."

Dustin's face paled, "I'm sorry to hear that. My dad volunteered himself to go on a mission that would most likely leave him dead once. I thought-I thought-I didn't know what the hell I would do."

I look down, "You're lucky he was okay."

Dustin nods slowly, "Sorry, about your dad, I can sympathize."

Jimmy hastily changes the subject "So what are you doing here? They don't usually bring in new people unless their parents are stationed here."

"Oh," I answer as I explain my story of running away, and how I went to Chuck.

Jimmy looks down, "My dad would love to have you as his daughter."

I look down; I got the feeling that Jimmy may be a little dramatic. Being the child of an agent can be difficult. However, from what I've heard about Colonel Casey, the colonel may not be the best when it comes to children.

Dustin takes the initiative and offers to show me where I'll be staying. He and Jimmy share a room, while I am lucky enough to have my own room. I sit down n the bed and think about everything that has been happening. My very short shot at a normal life has been completely crushed.


	4. Permanent

Chapter 3- Permanent

I can't sleep. All I do is think about my dad. I decide to leave my room and talk a walk. In the boys' room I hear whimpering. I don't mean to be nosy but it worries me, so I peak my head into their room. I see Jimmy, he's the one crying, but the more interesting factor is that he's in Dustin's bed. Dustin seems to be attempting to console him, so I decide that I should just stay out of it.

I continue walking. I try to think of anything that doesn't have to do with my father. I sigh as I decide that I might as well take a shower so I won't have to worry about the guys in the morning. Again I try not to think of my father. I allow the water to run through my hair, it relaxes me. After about an hour I turn off the water it's five AM, I can still sleep before breakfast.

I get out of the shower and there is Dustin, thankfully I am able to grab my towel before he sees anything. His eyes widen and I scream at the top of my lungs. Dustin reacts by screaming just as loud. Jimmy comes running in and he also screams.

I stop and yell, "CAN YOU BOTH JUST GET OUT?"

They nod as they leave me to get dressed. It's only my second day there and I'm already a problem. I quickly get dressed and I walk out of the room with my hair in the towel.

I enter the dining room place. It looks like a teachers' lounge or something. The walls are white, everything in there is plain, and there's a table in the middle. I walk over to the boys.

Dustin looks at me. He blushes as I walk closer to him, "You know, there's a thing called knocking, perhaps you've heard of it." I point out.

He fake laughs, "Funny, I'm sorry."

"It's okay." I answer deciding not to bring up what I saw in their room earlier so I sit down next to Dustin.

Jimmy eyes me carefully. I get the feeling that he still doesn't completely trust me. I respect that about him. Our fathers had their share of fights and nearly killing each other. Under normal circumstances I wouldn't trust him easily either. This was different though. After what I'd seen in their room, it was different. Jimmy had be crying, and I he was related to Casey, that it had to be something awful that caused it. For that reason I was trusting towards him.

After a few moments of silence Dustin breaks the silence, "Look, I know we got off to a weird start, but let's move past that. We're going to be here together for a while so let's make the best of it."

Jimmy and I both agree to Dustin's idea, because mainly it's true. When you're in a safe house you have no idea how long you'll be there, but for the most part you're there for a while.

When you're in a safe house you have no idea about time. I don't even know how old I am. I would guess about sixteen maybe seventeen, but I couldn't tell you my birthday, in fact I couldn't tell what day it was. I knew it was January, but the only reason for that was because when I ran away I heard the date on the news or something. However, I don't know what day of the week it is today, or the actual date itself.

Dustin looks at me still clearly embarrassed. I feel something odd when I see him blush, almost endearment but not quite. I'm not sure how to explain it. I'm not even sure what it is.

We start talking about all the safe bases we've lived in. Jimmy remains very quiet but I pretend nothing's wrong. I have a feeling it's connected to his sobbing that morning. I stop thinking about it. It's not any of my business anyway.

We hear the door open and we all look towards the door. There is standing the fake blonde, I assume she is Sarah Walker. She glares at me, I know why.

Dustin tenses up; I can tell he doesn't like her either. Jimmy's face is full of suspicion as if he doesn't trust her.

She looks at me, "Larkin, we'd like to speak with you. In private."

I reluctantly follow Sarah into what appears to be a board room. There sit Chuck and Agent Shaw. Sarah sits down next to Shaw but across from Chuck. I decide to sit down next to Chuck, he's the only one that I trust.

There is a TV above the head of the table. It turns on and there sits General Beckman. She was the one who told me that my father died. She's the one who interrogated me when they believed my father was rogue. She's the one that I hold responsible for my father's death. It was after all a rogue agent that she appointed who killed him.

She eyes me like I am a bad little girl about to be reprimanded. After a few moments of silence she speaks up. "I see no reason to move you Miss Larkin, you will be staying here for now. I am not concerned about the fact that you escaped so much as how."

I shrug, "Maybe it's in my blood."

Beckman looks at me disapprovingly. "Brenna, we could be making this very hard on you."

"You could but you won't." I say smugly, I know it's true. They've had their eye on me becoming an Agent for a long time, and they aren't about to do anything that may hurt their plan.

The General ignores that statement and continues, "You will be staying here until I feel different. She then looks at Sarah, "Agent Walker, you aren't supposed to be here. You aren't even supposed to know about Brenna or the other children for that matter."

Sarah opens her mouth to say something but decides against it and goes out into the hallway.

The general sits quietly, clearly debating what to do about Sarah. She looks back at me, "You are to stay here until I say otherwise. You are all dismissed."

As I am about to turn to talk to Chuck, Shaw is tugging me towards the door. I grudgingly go with him. He leads me back to the room and I ask, "You're not coming in?"

"Why would I?" He asks me.

"Oh, gee, I don't know," I say playing dumb, "perhaps it has something to do with your son."

He tenses up, "Just get inside." The second that I'm inside he shuts the door behind me.

Dustin and Jimmy look at me solemnly waiting to hear what I had to say.

"Well," I sigh, "Looks like I'm staying here for a while."


	5. The Rookie

AN: Firstly I want to apologize for how long it took me to update this. Secondly, I promising that I will try to update much for frequently.

Chapter 4- The Rookie

After being there a few weeks, I begin to fall into a sense of security. Overall I've been getting along with Jimmy, and Dustin.

We have training sessions in the mornings, and the rest of the day is spent however we please. It's new to me, at my previous safe houses I was never trained but more importantly, there was constant routine always. I think the differences may have something to do with the fact that we are so close to the base, at least according to Jimmy.

I still haven't gotten down to the bottom of Jimmy's nightly weeping. I always shower before the boys are up, and Jimmy is almost always a teary mess by the time I pass their bedroom.

I'm not in the shower for longer than fifteen minutes when I hear a commotion along with shouting. I rush out grabbing at the robe that Chuck dropped off for me last week. I also grab a razor that was in the bathroom, if we're in danger I might as well have some sort of weapon.

I stealthily sneak into the main kitchen area where the boys usually go after they wake up. I see Jimmy and Dustin and they're facing towards the hallway, there is a third figure standing there, his or her back to me.

Dustin and Jimmy are asking questions, that I'm not trying to make out, however their tones are filled with panic. I mentally curse myself for not getting fully dressed before but there's no time. Using my training that my father gave me, I place my foot on the wall and begin bouncing between the two walls in the hallway until I'm at the ceiling directly over the unknown person.

I drop soundlessly behind the figure and take the razor and put up against his or her throat. "Who are you." I ask sternly.

"Brenna!" Jimmy yells, "What on earth are you doing?"

"I heard a struggle when I was in the shower, and I assumed that this was an intruder of some sort." I explain not removing the razor from the stranger's throat.

Dustin walks over to me, "While we appreciate . . . this, you're threatening Beckman's nephew."

I slowly move the razor away from the boy's windpipe, and place it safely in my robe pocket. "Are you stationed here too?"

He laughs as he turns around, "No, no I-" he looks at me and my . . . clothing choice and responds, "Whoa."

I roll my eyes as I retreat back into the bathroom to change, if this person was a real threat he wouldn't have gotten distracted by my lack of proper clothing.

When I return I see Beckman's nephew sitting there chatting with my roommates as if they're old buddies, it leads to wonder if they really are old friends. The reason I find this so peculiar is that it's rare that children of spies know more people than who they live with. Transfers happen but are rare depending on the child, and it's even rarer that there are more than two children in a given base.

When I enter the room, Dustin turns crimson red, and Jimmy chuckles. I ignore this and turn to the boy that I had been literally seconds away from killing. I outstretch my hand, "Brenna Larkin."

The boy has greenish blue eyes like the ocean, and this hair is dark but not as dark as Dustin's and not as light as Jimmy (who has a light brown hair color). There's something different when I get a good look at him. It's instant attraction, not unlike what I felt upon meeting Dustin, but this was different it was much more of an animalistic attraction.

"Derek Beckman," He said taking my hand and shaking it, "I have to say, even though you were about to end my life, what you did a few minutes ago was impressive."

I don't respond waiting for him to explain his presence in the safe house. He figures it out because he continues, "I'm here because my aunt thought it would be beneficial for me to train alongside you guys. Clearly she was correct; no wonder the CIA desperately wants you."

"How do you know Jimmy and Dustin?" I ask curiously.

"Dustin and I know each other from a former safe house, and I know Jimmy because of his-" He stops abruptly looking at Jimmy who's face makes it clear that he doesn't want Derek to continue, ". . . because of his father."

I look around at Jimmy, he looks as though he's about to puke so I change the subject hastily "How long are you planning on staying with us?"

Derek shrugs, "Not for much longer than a few weeks, a month at the most."

I nod, "I'm sorry, but if you're the general's nephew why are you safe housing at all?"

He laughs, "My parents are NSA too. My aunt's just a bigger deal than them. We can't all have parents like Bryce Larkin."

I look Derek right in the eye and say deadly calm, "I know that you know my father's deceased, your aunt is General Diane Beckman, of course you know, if you mention my father ever again, I will make sure that I use the razor to slit your throat, understand?"


	6. Friend or Foe

Chapter 5

I sulk in my room not wanting to be disturbed, I never really did emotions. Sure they existed but when you spend your whole life alone in some safe house with guards all over the place, you never really truly experience the emotions. My emotional range went from worried to bored back to worried back to bored, so hearing about my father's death put me on an emotional rollercoaster, only to be followed by another emotional rollercoaster upon finding out that he wasn't really dead, then shortly after I find out that he actually is dead, and well here we are.

Being here hasn't helped anything. All Jimmy and Dustin do when I'm around is talk about the great Bryce Larkin and all he's done for this country, and when they're not talking about they're talking about how cool being in the CIA or NSA must be along with what great heroes their fathers are. All I think about during those conversations is how different my life could be had my father not been Bryce Larkin, CIA agent, but Bryce Larkin the accountant. I would have had a real life, I wouldn't have lost him, at least not like this.

The one thing worse that finding out your father is dead, is finding out it's because he went rogue. While the government didn't know the truth that he was innocent, they sent out a kill order on her father, a man who had devoted his life to the CIA, they didn't even try to get him into custody because he was "too dangerous." Is this how we are supposed to treat American Heroes?

Now there's this Derek kid, I'm not quite sure where he fits in here. Why on Earth would Beckman want him to train here with us? It didn't make much sense I'm pretty sure that he's here to keep an eye on me. I don't trust that kid.

There's a knock at my bedroom door, and then I see Dustin smiling at me from the doorway, and my heart starts beating faster for some unknown reason. "Hey, Bren, I was wondering if you could come out here for a sec? We're discussing rooming arrangements and if anyone should have a say it's you."

I look at him not fully understanding and then it occurs to me, there are only two bedrooms and there are only two beds to a room. In all honesty, if this were a normal situation there would be no problem because there aren't normally more than two children per safe house. So the fact that there are four beds here must be in case of an emergency or something. The problem now is that while there are four of us, I'm the only girl, meaning I'll be sharing with one of the guys.

I walk into the kitchen area where we all were before and I sit down across from Jimmy who is sitting next to Derek. Dustin clears his throat, "So, it's pretty clear that one of us is going to have to take the bed in Brenna's room, and I personally think that she should be the one to choose since it's her room and because no one should be uncomfortable."

"I'll room with Brenna." Jimmy pipes up, "isn't that the obvious choice, I mean with all things considered."

I furrow my brow; this makes no sense whatsoever, why would that possibly be the obvious choice, our parents hate each other, secondly he cries in his sleep, why would he be so willing to let me see that?

"Are you sure?" Dustin asks clearly just as confused as I am, "I mean-"

"Well what would you propose, because that seems to be the only solution to me, I'm the only one no one has to worry about making a move on her, and I'll be able to get to know Brenna a little better." Jimmy states as if it solves anything.

Now I'm even more confused than I was before, "Why exactly don't we have to worry about you making a move on me?"

He snickers, "Because genius, I'm gay. Sheesh, for some top CIA draft pick, you sure are oblivious."

Now I think this over, it sure would be nice to get to the bottom of the Jimmy crying thing once and for all. Not to mention him being gay does make him a more ideal roommate than the other two, "In that case, I concur with Jimmy. I'll be much more comfortable rooming with him than with you two, no offense."

"Then it's decided," Jimmy smirks, "I'll room with Brenna, and Derek can take my bed and stay with Dustin, problem solved. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to transfer my clothing to my new room."

Dustin looks like he's going to object but then Jimmy is already walking out of the kitchen and into his old room to pack up his stuff.

"You know what," I say, "I'm going to go help him, it'll speed up the whole process." I walk into the room and clear my throat, "Need some help?"

He looks at me and shrugs, "I don't have much so it'll only take five minutes." He turns away from me an walks over to the closet and begins taking out clothing and a box.

Now I'm beyond confused not to minutes ago Jimmy was all for getting to know each other and overly excited to be roommates, but now that I'm trying to help him he's turning me away.

As Jimmy's placing the box down it falls and I go to help him pick up its contents that are now scattered all over the floor. There are new paper articles and pictures of none other than Colonel John Casey. "Don't you have something else to do!" Jimmy barks at me as he desperately tries to shove everything back in the box as if to make the situation go away with it.

I leave the room and go back to the room that I will be sharing with Jimmy now. All I can do is think about how strange this boy is.


	7. Preparation

Chapter 6- Preparation

After the whole ordeal with Jimmy, Derek comes to get me so I can be briefed by the general. I walk into the room; Shaw, Chuck and Casey are all there waiting for Derek and me.

The second that we enter the monitor turns on and there is Diane Beckman looking as uptight as ever. "Hello, Brenna. I see you've met my nephew, Derek. I hope that you two have gotten acquainted."

"You could say that," answers Derek smirking at me, after all I had nearly slit his throat a few hours ago. I blush slightly trying not to think about my lack of clothing earlier this morning it was not my finest moment, nearly killing the nephew of a general while wearing only a robe.

Apparently the mood goes unnoticed because Beckman continues, "It's been no secret that you are one of the best choices for the CIA or NSA, Brenna, and it would be greatly appreciated if you would agree to help us train some of our other young hopefuls, for example, Derek, Jimmy, and Dustin."

"And if I refuse?" I ask, purely for humorous purposes, it's not as if I have anything better to do than to train the government's 'young hopefuls.'

"In that case, we would be more than happy to send you back to your old safe house," She says smugly.

That gets my attention, I absolutely hated life at my old safe house, I was all alone. As much as I can't put my finger on how peculiar the people here are, it doesn't change the fact that I'd much rather be here with people I don't know very well, than with no one at all. "When do I start?"

"You can start tomorrow, we'd like to have these kids as ready as possible when it comes time for them to consider the option of being recruited," Beckman responds as if we're a bunch or animals being prepared for slaughter, and we need to be in perfect shape otherwise no one will want to buy our meat.

However, next to me, Derek seems to be thrilled by this idea. It's as if Christmas has come 11 months early. He turns to me, smiling from ear to ear, "It's going to be a pleasure working with you Miss Larkin, my training has only been at quite the beginner level myself, so it's such an amazing opportunity to train with you."

I look at him like he's grown ten heads instantaneously. How could he possibly be eating all this up? Isn't it obvious that his aunt is just trying to save some time with training new recruits, that she's going to influence a bunch of government kids to enlist? It marvels me how someone could become so enthralled with an idea that could lead to his downfall.

I clear my throat before responding, "It will be a pleasure to train all of you, however, are all the parental units okay with this? I don't know how I would feel about my kid being thrown into governmental training this young."

Agent Shaw smirks before responding, "It's something that we've all discussed and we agreed that it will be beneficial for the children, whether they decided to join the CIA or NSA, or if they decide to go off into the real world. This way it will ease our minds as parents if we know that our children can protect themselves."

"Right," I answer sarcastically, "I'm _sure_ that's why you all decided on this. Quick question about this, did you once discuss this with your children before making this life changing decision for them? I mean the training that I'll be giving them is vigorous, and not to mention very demanding."

Casey finally speaks up, "This is exactly the type of thing that Jimmy needs, trust me. The kid needs to know how to defend himself, if only we'd had the opportunity earlier, maybe . . ." his voice trails off so I let it go.

"As for Dustin," Shaw pipes in, "I know for a fact that he cannot wait to join the CIA and become a hero just like his old man. I'm sure he'd love nothing more than to be trained by you, after all, you father was legendary."

I purse my lips, "As are you." Then I look around the room, "_All_ of you for that matter, I just don't understand how you didn't take the time _yourselves_ to train to train your children. I mean for God's sake, I'm here in a room talking to Colonel Casey, Agents Shaw and 'Carmichael', and not to mention the incredible, General Diane Beckman, and I'm supposed to believe that is some sort of way to train your kids for protective purposes? No, no, no the general made it perfectly clear, you want your kids to be able to go into the field as soon as possible. I'll train them, but I'm going to let them exactly what their _parents_ are preparing them for."

With that I storm out the room and back into our area of the base where we're usually kept. I walk into the room that I now share with Jimmy, he's sitting on his bed. His eyes flicker to me before asking, in almost a whisper, "Did you see my dad?"

I nod, "Yeah, he's all for this whole training nonsense. He thinks it'll be very beneficial for you." I roll my eyes, but then I see a smile making its way across Jimmy's face.

"He said that?" Jimmy asks like a child finding out that his parent bragged about him being the smartest kid in the class. Looking at him it's hard to see the resemblance between him and his father. Jimmy is much gentler than Casey, and his features are softer than Casey, however it's still there somehow, you can tell he's the son of Colonel Casey.

"Yeah," I respond, "he said that." Jimmy's face is the happiest I've ever seen him.

It makes me remember the joy I'd get when my dad would give me praise.

The rest of the day is uneventful. It's not until that night when I hear a whimper coming from the bed opposite mine when things go back to being their abnormal selves.

Jimmy is weeping in the bed, thrashing his arms around like a maniac. I race over to his bed, and suddenly I do the only thing I can think to do, I soothingly whisper his name as I move to stroke his hair. Suddenly in an instant, he grabs my hand and snaps up out of bed breathing heavily. Then he looks at my face, and his eyes open wide, "Uh, Brenna, about what just happened-"

"You don't need to tell me anything," I say reassuringly, "just try and relax and go back to sleep, we can talk about this in the morning if you want."

"No," he snaps, "I can't go to sleep without talking about it." He looks at me struggling before saying, "Hey, Brenna, can you keep a secret?"


	8. Secret Intel

AN: While I appreciate all the fantastic story alerts and favorites that this has gotten, I'd love some reviews just to let me know how this is going. I'd also LOVE to hear ideas and constructive criticism. Also *******IMPORTANT NOTE: THIS CHAPTER WILL HAVE SOME DARKER TOPICS MENTIONED******* that being said these topics will **not** be described in detail.

Chapter 7

"Hey, Brenna, can you keep a secret?" Jimmy asking me this is like dropping a bomb on my head. How am I to know if I can keep a secret? For my whole life the only secret I've ever known is names of CIA and NSA operatives and even then I didn't have anyone to tell these names to.

On the other hand I want to be able to help Jimmy through this and gain his trust, if we are going to be training together then I want him to be able to have complete faith in me. Besides, based on their behavior, I'm positive that Derek and Dustin both already know Jimmy's secret, so I answer honestly, "I will sincerely try my best to keep your secret. I've never had someone to tell a secret to before so I'm not entirely sure if I'm the best at keeping them."

Jimmy nods, "That's good enough for me." He sighs looking at him palms struggling to find the words to describe whatever it is that is haunting him. He looks to me with a pain in his eyes, "You need to understand that this happened a few years ago, at my old safe base. Also, it's hard for me to talk about so, I may pause awkwardly or struggle, but I'll try my best to get through it."

"Jimmy," I smile at him, "you don't have to do this if you don't want to."

He shakes his head, "No, I _need_ to, otherwise there will be no hope for us living together in this base." He looks at his shoes tapping his left foot anxiously, "Well I guess a good place to start is with my dad. It's no shock that he's one of the most hated men by rival agencies, including some that coexist within this country. He pissed off a lot of people doing his job, yourself included I'm sure," I make a face. Colonel Casey was the man to technically killed my father the first time they told me he was dead. Jimmy continues, "So if you're some rookie who's assigned to babysit agency kids, who doesn't belong to the NSA, guarding Colonel Casey's son could be like a dream come true.

"It's the perfect way to knock John Casey down a peg, get to and hurt his kid. I mean it's clear that the training that's offered at the bases aren't exactly an even match for someone with agency training, not to mention good old dad is too busy pissing everyone off to even stop by to check in on his son never mind train him.

"Do you know it's not unusual for agency kids to be guarded by adults that aren't in their particular agency? Sure normally we're considered a matter of National Security, but we don't want people involved in foreign affairs to find out about us either because, we could be used as leverage. There's approximately five different sects of the two agencies that are involved in guarding, training, or looking after us. Well, when your dad is my dad it isn't hard to have some of his enemies looking after you. While usually the job of guarding us is usually given to some rookie NSA agent, every so often you'll come across some retiree who doesn't do field work anymore but is still involved. Sometimes you even get someone who was injured in combat but still wants to help the agency while they're in the advanced stages of their recovery.

"For all those different people who look after us and all the different options there are for who is guarding who, they don't, or well _didn't_, check to see that this person would have nothing to gain from hurting us. Sure they make sure no one from in our country without authorization or people in other countries are able to hurt us, but they don't check if someone within these walls wants to hurt us.

"Well, when I was approximately twelve years old, I had my first base transfer. We had reached a point where my father was feared and hated by enough people that my security needed to be upped. I'm sure you have no idea what that's like, Bryce Larkin was always a very important CIA operative. Anyway, it was exciting, there was a chance for me to meet new people, and maybe even be closer to my dad. Also I was proud, not ever NSA kid has a dad as kickass as John Casey that they need their security to be raised.

"Immediately life was different there, my routine had been changed, I was being told less and less about my father's missions and the guard was overly personable. He would always ask me seemingly friendly things about myself and my father. I thought he was just being nice, after all why would I feel otherwise he was there to protect me, he was a good guy on the same side as my dad.

"Little did I know, all those questions he asked me were just to find out how much training I had in my old base and how much my father had taught me. It didn't take him very long to figure out that my training was beginner level karate at best, while he was a black belt. It wouldn't be hard for him to kick the crap out of me, and I wished that he had."

He pauses, his breath hitching and his hands shaking as he continues, "My food rations were suddenly getting smaller and smaller. At first I didn't think much of it, with government budget and whatnot, but it wasn't long before I stopped getting meals everyday, but twice a week at the most. However, there isn't exactly someone that you can call up and complain to about this, and I mean the guards don't make the food they just take it from wherever they get the food to you. So I just figured that there was some sort of shortage and the food was going to the younger children first or something, until I was only getting one meal once a week.

"I decided to be a little more adventurous than I usually am. I figured that there must be some sort of a break room or cafeteria where the personnel got their food, I knew stealing was a crime and that my father would've been angry with me, but I was _so hungry_. I broke out of my room and started exploring, I didn't have to get too far before I saw some sort of trash bag. I looked inside it figuring if there was food in there I couldn't be far away from the cafeteria, and if there wasn't then I'd just have to keep looking. Well inside the bag I saw a bunch of uneaten food. I immediately got pissed, how selfish were these people? They were throwing out all this food and I had eaten much in weeks. Then I noticed a label in the trash, it had my name on it with a meal listed in it, a meal that was in that very trash.

"I must not have been very quite because the guard found me. I started yelling at him demanding answers about why my food wasn't being delivered to me. He just laughed at me and dragged me back to my living space. I assumed he was going to tell me that I was crazy or something. Instead he went into this whole rant about how overrated my father is, and how he should get the type of recognition that he gets. I didn't quite understand so I asked about why I wasn't getting my meals. Apparently he took that as I wasn't paying attention and proceeded to beat the shit out of me, going on about how I was going to starve to death like this."

He stops again his whole body shivering as he mutters the words, "I was so hungry," over and over again. However Jimmy still isn't finished yet so he continues, "Apparently this guy was some CIA guy who was still recovering from being injured in combat while on a mission with my father; he somehow blamed him for the injury. I found all this stuff out while he was torturing me.

"One day it got too out of hand. He was beating me up because I was being 'disrespectful' or something, and things went a little too far. He did something to me that I don't think I can repeat out loud. . . but let's just say it was a form of . . . sexual assault, it wasn't rape but let's just leave it at that. I thought he was going to kill me and he probably would have, had my father not walked in, having volunteered to transfer another kid, none other than Derek Beckman for that matter, to the base and shot him dead.

"I was transferred here immediately and given a bunch of psychological evaluations and some medications for a while, and my dad made sure that the screening for guards was much more secure than it was in the past. I haven't missed a meal since."

He looks at me with a sense of completion waiting for me to say something. How _can_ you say anything about that? So I do the only human thing to do, I pull him into a tight embrace before promising him, "That's _never_ going to happen to you again. I'm going to train you to the extent that if anyone even thinks about laying a hand on you, you'll be able to snap their neck like a twig."

He smiles at me before laying back down in his bed saying, "Thanks Bren, for everything, for listening, for not judging, and for agreeing to train us. We owe you."

AN: That was so intense to write. Please review!


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